The NALP reports in its 2012 Associate Salary Survey that in 2009, as much as two-thirds of Big Law’s first-year associates were earning $160,000 a year. But since then, the figures have dropped. Nationwide, in firms with more than 700 lawyers, 46 percent said they were paying first-year associates salaries of $160,000, compared with 54 percent in 2011 and 65 percent in 2009.

Some first years in major markets are still seeing higher salaries. In Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., for instance, about two-thirds of law firms with more than 700 lawyers are paying their first-year associates $160,000 a year. But the figure is down from 90 percent of law firms that reported doing so in 2009.

Meanwhile, in New York, the $160,000 starting salary still reigns, with 87 percent of law firms with more than 701 lawyers paying that amount and 75 percent of law firms with more than 251 lawyers paying that amount.

Despite the lower first-year salaries among Big Law firms, the NALP’s report found that the overall median first-year salary at law firms of all sizes was $125,000, up from $115,000 last year.

Unfortunately, law school students and graduates shouldn’t anticipate salaries to rise anytime soon. “We would not expect to see much widespread upward movement in associate salaries until the demand for legal services in North America picks up considerably from where we are today,” NALP Executive Director James Leipold said in a press release.

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